Helping schools, helping kids

November 19, 2006

The number a lot of people are focusing on is "nine." There are nine schools in the South Bend Community School Corp. that are on academic probation as a result of the most recent round of ISTEP scores. We would like to point out that nine also is the number of South Bend schools that were classified under Indiana Public Law 221 in the state's top two academic categories: exemplary and commendable. Seven more schools made academic progress. Eight are on the academic watch list, the category just above probation. So nine schools on probation isn't the whole story, although it understandably does get -- and deserve -- much attention. One very big reason is that all four of South Bend's high schools are among the nine schools on probation. In compliance with the state law, the South Bend schools Board of Trustees conducted hearings Oct. 23 and Nov. 6 on the nine probationary schools. The public was invited to speak. There were many useful comments, the most useful of which, it seemed to us, came from teachers. A kindergarten teacher observed that class enrollments are too large, an issue that should be addressed especially in Title I schools. A primary school instructional assistant told the school board that there is a shortage of after-school resources. If more tutors were available, she said, 90 percent of the students at her school would be attending after-school programs. Another teacher also has spoken out on school problems, although not at the hearings. She teaches at one of the high schools. Her letter to the Editorial Board (intended for our edification rather than publication) pointed out the glaring problem of poor school attendance. To make her point, the teacher enclosed the first three months of attendance sheets this school year for three different classes (from which she had deleted students' names and ID numbers). In two of the classes, nearly all students missed days -- many of them more than a dozen. One missed 27 days, five of which were suspension days. Another missed 22 days, six spent serving suspensions. Another missed 22, including three suspension days. How does one teach children who aren't there? Obviously it isn't possible. Attendance clearly should be a very high priority for the school board, Superintendent Robert L. Zimmerman and the school improvement committees that are convening to figure out how to address inadequate performance. Interestingly, the attendance sheet the teacher provided for the third class reflected far fewer absences than the other two -- an average of only one or two per student over the three-month period. The teacher noted that this is a co-op class, in which students attend school part of the day and then go to related jobs. They aren't allowed to go to work if they don't go to school. Work for these kids seems to be a strong incentive for good attendance. This fact might be useful to educators who are struggling to figure out ways to make school more relevant to kids. Another fact that is apparent from teacher comments, before the school board hearings and elsewhere, is that needed changes aren't free. Smaller classes, more tutors and work-school co-op programs cost money. The authors of P.L. 221, which holds schools accountable and demands that they improve, understood that. Under the law, schools on academic probation are eligible for more state aid. The problem is, the General Assembly did not provide extra funding for schools on probation this year. State Superintendent for Public Instruction Suellen Reed has said she hopes the General Assembly will address the funding shortcoming next year. We join her in that hope. We would add that the funding of existing education obligations should not take a backseat to full-day kindergarten or any other new education initiative. Indiana lawmakers have done a good job of creating a measuring stick in P.L. 221. They also need to do their part to help local school systems meet the performance demands that the state has imposed.